Nitzy's Hockey Den

Pictured is the book I picked up while in Toronto last month. It was published in 1976 right after the first ever Canada Cup tournament. The book is just loaded with photos, text (by Scott Young) and Game Summaries for each game. The ’76 Canada Cup was an attempt by Hockey Canada and Alan Eagleson to capture once again the magic that was the ’72 Summit Series. Canada, of course won the tourney, beating the Czechs in the final on Sittler’s OT goal. The tournament was basically the swan-song for one Robert Gordon Orr, as he was returning from yet another knee operation. His 1975-76 season had consisted of a mere 10 games and an amazing 18 points. He didn’t actually arrive to Canada’s training camp until two weeks in, he remained at his Parry Sound hockey school easing the knee back into shape on his own. Orr would excel throughout the tournament being awarded the MVP and placing on the All-Star Team along with Sweden’s Borje Salming. Recently while sitting around the hockey dressing roo...

Not you coach... Let's all pause and have a moment for Ol' Reg. Pictured above is one of my many stills from Slap Shot, showing Coach Reggie sitting in the study of esteemed writer Dickie Dunn. In this scene he's planting the story of the Florida sale. "Dickie, they've already built the rink!", he implores the gullible scribe. Here we see Reggie getting a phone call from Suzanne Hanrahan, we all know were that leads. This is right after Morris has asked if "anyone has been to The Palm Isles in this town?" Apparently Morris had a nice time with the barmaid last time. Newman had stated that this was one of the favourite roles of his career. Even though he really couldn't skate all that well, and was 51 at the time of filming, he pulled it off. That's what great actors do. That reminds me Reg, I was coaching in Omaha in 1948 and Eddie Shore sends me this guy...........but, we'll leave it at that for now. You'll be missed coach.

"He Signs! He Scores!"....I'll say, this is one of the more rare Gretzky covers I own. The Saint John's Edmonton Report was a regional magazine geared more towards business. He is pictured doing a cute little jump-step against the Stingers of Cincinnati featuring Mike Gartner, Robbie Ftorek, Mike Liut and a young punk named Mark Messier.This is the Feb. 9, 1979 issue right after the Wayner signed a contract on his 18th birthday. Peter Pocklington, being the astute businessman he was (to go with his arseholery) had foresight in signing Gretz to a 'personal services' contract. He knew that when the WHA would soon to be absorbed into the NHL, most contracts would be voided. A personal services deal would bypass that and keep him his property. He was signed through to 1999 at ONE MILLION (Dr.Evil voice) dollars per year. The only caveat was a renegotiation option after 10 years....we all know where this lead.

About a year and a half ago I had a great garage sale find. It was a nicely kept box of each and every page of the Vancouver Sun from April 1934. Each original page was trimmed clean and kept in order. I bought it because on my initial look through the box I glanced the picture above on one of the pages. I took it home and started flipping through it, apparently the Leafs were in the midst of a western barnstorming tour with the Wings which would culminate at the Denman Arena in Vancouver. Seeing as I had recently joined the Society of International Hockey Research, (mainly as research and connections for my kids book) I figured I would write an article and submit it to their yearly journal. What follows is the actual published article for the journal which is distributed to all members, currently 354 worldwide. (sweet eh?) ON APRIL, 5, 1934, the Vancouver Province reported plans for an NHL exhibition tour through western Canada. Toronto’s Conn Smythe had confirmed the tour via long-d...

The worst All-Star selection ever, no I don't mean selection to the mid-season game where 40 guys are picked. Lots of players have been put on those teams on the basis of half a good season which basically amounted to their career highlight, (1982 Leaf D-Man Bob Manno). I'm talking the First and Second league-wide All-Stars selected after each season since 1930-31. At a quick glance it seems the first ten or so years of post season all-star teams are littered with non-descript, middling defensmen. Ivan "Ching" Johnson of the Rangers made four straight teams including a First Team in '32 while racking up 13 points in 47 games. Habs Sylvio Mantha was a second teamer in '31 and '31 with 11 and 10 points respectively. Cy Wentworth and Art Coulter, (see what I mean about non-descript) made up the 1934-35 Second team D-Line with 13 and 12 points each in 48 games. I know, I know...different era. Eddie Shore and King Clancy were about the only two even remotely o...

I recently had a request for an article on Dave Keon from a pal who worships him as much as I do Gretz. I do not own the magnificently crafted patch pictured above, but as soon as I discovered it's existence, I NEED it. Keon was always known as one of the most gentlemanly superstars of all-time. In looking at his career numbers, it’s hard to argue that fact. Keon tallied nearly 1000 NHL points while serving only 117 PIMs. In the WHA he was an even cleaner skater with 291 Pts and 20 PIMs. I figured dividing Points by PIM would give a good idea of a players’ cleanliness. I’ll call it a Byng Rating after the trophy. Keon’s NHL Byng Rating is 8.42 Pts/PIM, his WHA 14.45, overall a combined 9.92 Byng. The idea is to see how this stands up against other superstars over the history of the game. I decided to take the top 100 Point scorers in NHL history as an initial source of superstars. This list will take us from The Great One all the way down to Ivan Boldirev at 866 Pts. Some of my ini...